One trimester into the district’s custodial privatization plan, reaction is mixed and turnover is noticeable.
According to a new Highlander survey, a slight majority of staff members surveyed reported that in comparison to last year’s staff, new privatized custodians have left the school “somewhat dirtier”.
In addition, Seaholm Principal Terry Piper said underperforming custodians have been removed from the building.
“Whenever you have a large number of people that are brought in at one time, you have to go through a process where you discover that some of those folks may not be the best people for the job,” said Piper. “I guess to be kind of crude you basically are kind of weeding out the people that aren’t really meant for the job.”
Allen Pendleton, Seaholm’s facility supervisor for the new staffing company, GCA Services Group, agreed that since the start of the school year, Seaholm has had its fair share of unsatisfactory employees.
“Some just need a little more training, while others need to move on and find employment elsewhere,” said Pendleton. “GCA listens to my concerns very closely and usually when there is concern, they help gets things right on track.”
“Except for those couple of people who we’ve had to let go, the quality of work is very good,” said Piper. “In my position I usually hear about it if it’s not going well and I haven’t had anyone complain about the condition of their classroom.”
To determine the level of satisfaction of the Seaholm staff in comparison to last year’s regular custodial staff, The Highlander distributed a number of surveys into teachers’ mailboxes late last month. When given a scale of one to ten, one being completely unsatisfactory and 10 being excellent, of the 26 surveys returned, the average satisfaction rating was a 6.2.
“The staff is nice, but I think they are trying to cut corners with less staff, so the current staff is not doing as good of a good as last year’s [staff],” said one surveyed staff member. The surveys did not require staff members to submit their name along with comments.
Pendleton confirmed there has been mixed feedback since the start of the school year.
“I’ve received probably a mix of good and bad feedback from teachers,” said Pendleton. “More good than bad, I would say. When we do receive negative input, it is my job to address it and work on correcting it.”
Survey results showed various opinions on overall performance, ranging from complaints to high praises.
“Custodians don’t give you time of day,” wrote one staff member.
“The day (shift) custodians have done everything I’ve asked them to do in a short amount of time,” said another surveyed staff member.
Some staff members have even gone to great lengths to confirm their suspicions of the work performed by custodians since privatization.
“Mr. [Kevin] Hoffmeyer and I did a little experiment in the teacher’s work room,” said science teacher Amanda McDonald. “We put a piece of popcorn on the floor to see if that room was really getting cleaned or not. It took about 3 or 4 days for the popcorn to get cleaned up.”
Although she feels some areas of the building could be cleaner, McDonald says other areas are as clean as last year.
“I have no complaints about my classroom,” said McDonald.
Fifty five percent of the teachers surveyed by the Highlander reported the classrooms to be somewhat dirtier in comparison to last year; 53% said classrooms and halls are also somewhat dirtier.
Some staff members questioned whether the unsatisfactory performances are a result of pay cuts.
“[The current custodians] do half the job that the ‘regular’ custodians did,” said one staff member. “As they get half the pay, I guess it works out.”
“[The District] saved over two million dollars by privatizing the custodial and transportation,” said Piper.
Despite the lowered cost of privatized custodial services in comparison to last year’s staff, Piper and Pendleton assure Seaholm students and staff that an extensive background check always takes place before hiring any new custodian.
“First of all [GCA] checks references to see what kind of employee they have been and there is also a standard background check they have to go through that is more extensive because they are working in a building that students are in,” said Piper. “One is to check out their performance is their previous job and the other is to make sure there is no criminal background.”
“The background check is the same as Birmingham Schools did with all employees,” said Pendleton. “We are very careful in making sure we are hiring the right types of people to serve the youth.”
Seaholm was able to retain custodians who have worked for the district prior to privatization, including Pendleton, who was employed at Quarton.
“[Quarton custodians] didn’t want privatization, but I knew the writing was on the wall,” said Pendleton. “It was going to happen and I had to make some decisions on my own life and destiny. So I decided to interview with the new company.”
Many former district custodians decided to interview with the GCA as well.
